JOURNEY IN TERMS OF DISCOVERY,
DIALOGUE,
CONTAMINATION
AND HEALING

The theme chosen for the 30th Maratona dles Dolomites – Enel is JOURNEY.
In fact, we set off a long time ago and have never stopped.
Journey has always been key for human beings. It was believed, at the turn of the last century, that technology and science could solve the world's problems, from hunger to disease (in fact, penicillin was a great invention).

But the Belle Époque, with its hedonism and excess energy, actually triggered the Urkatastrophe, the original catastrophe. A war lasting thirty years, with a cease-fire in the middle, a thinly disguised desire for peace. The destination of that trip, made up of hope and technology actually led humanity in a completely different direction.

Let's think about William Anderson' trip in his Apollo 8. As well as discovering new horizons, millions of people became aware of our ecosystem. The only white and blue planet, in the middle of all that gleaming wonder, was our "Mother Father Earth". "The most beautiful sight of my life" the astronaut called it. It was Christmas Eve of 1968. And that photo "Earthrise" became one of the most evocative images of all time.
The most famous trip, as we know, is that of Ulysses. Tenacity, shrewdness, daring in crossing over to the unknown and heroism were the elements that accompanied him along his infinite wanderings. On his travels Odysseus discovered richness and poverty while growing up and stripping off. Because travel transforms people and turns them into something else, taking them elsewhere. It is as though the real aim isn't seeing a place but learning to see everything, even ourselves. Ulysses is the figure of the ancient and brave
traveller. Through travel he found freedom and the desire for knowledge to return to where he started. That's it, the Nostoi, the Returns in us. Coming home. His greatest wish was to return, to Penelope, his wife, and to his son.

Isn't this the innate ancestral wish within us? Journey means discovering new places, new environments. But it is also dialogue, enrichment and contamination. The most important trip however is the one inside us. We are made of relationships. We are relationships with others. Journey sometimes heals life's wounds. Journey makes us light, free from weights, removes barriers and reduces things to the essential. It can distract magic spells, as Rimbaud wrote, and hearten: "I had to travel, to distract the magic spells clustered in my brain. On the ocean, that ocean which I loved as if it were bound to wash away some contamination from me, I would see the consoling cross rise".
What really counts is a trip towards beauty, invisible to a distracted man.
Beauty can be found if we are beautiful within. The action of looking is a finding
in itself. Heartfelt wishes to all of us, may our travel time be a time of forgiveness, simple and true things. Like silent steps in the mountains, hopes and dreams that never end. Have a good journey!! (Michil Costa - maratona.it)